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Office updates for Mac? There's good news and bad
Microsoft announces delays

By Ina Fried

Published: Friday 22 February 2008

Microsoft offered Mac fans both good news and bad news yesterday, and it all depends on which version of Office for Mac the user has.

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The software maker said it plans to deliver the first update to Office 2008 for Mac on 11 March, delivering several key fixes. At the same time though, it has again pushed back the release of converters needed by users of Office 2004 to read documents saved in the new XML file formats used by Office 2007 for Windows.

Microsoft said in a blog posting: "The team is mobilised to get Office 2008 updates out as soon as possible. As a result we are pushing back the release of the final Open XML File Format Converter Update to Office 2004 for Mac."

Microsoft said it now expects to make the converter available by late June. Most recently the company had said final converters would be released six to eight weeks after Office 2008 was released in the US. However, that timeline was already delayed from Microsoft's original plan, which called for the tools to be available by late 2006 or early 2007.

By further delaying the converters as more documents are created in Office 2007's new file formats, the software maker is creating more headaches for Mac users, particularly those with older systems. Microsoft does have a beta version of its converter.